With so many people wanting to work and do an excellent job city of miami beach doesn't seem to find the right people. Service is horrible, some employees are extremely rude thank God for those few that are actually very sweet and professional but overall much supervision is need and more customer support Training, whenever trying to open a permit it takes days before anything happens then when you try calling there is none one available. Very dissatisfied with this city.

The most terrible experience I’ve ever had at a building department. They take their sweet time, there are ridiculous rules, documentation, notarizations, etc. etc. etc. Before you can get anything done. If you think you’re prepared and you have all documentation.. YOU DON’T. Maybe if your a regular you can bypass the system and get special treatment but other than that expect to spend your entire day here. Because of wait! At 11:45 they all basically stop working because they have to go to lunch at 12:00. And by they I mean the entire building. At 11:59, lights are shut off and your waiting as they walk in one by one. Disgusting and terrible. For 4 hours of work expect to to spend two days here!

Your experience will depend on the permit clerk you meet. If you are lucky you will be greeted by someone smiling at you, knows the process and help you to get through at his/her best. Otherwise, which is in most cases, be ready to be thrown from one counter to another like a tennis ball, because either a permit clerk has no idea about the “New rules” or she might be acting you like you are her mentally disabled subject, she owns you and you don’t have any right to talk.

The building department is requesting signed and notarized contracts for every permit, who has the time for that! Some of our customers are out of the country and the city just keeps asking for more and more info prolonging the permit process. They always misplace updated insurance and license information, you can pull a permit Monday and by Friday they need all insurance updated as they misplaced it. The lines are horrendous, better luck at a section 8 office. The fees are ridiculous, I was asked for $18,000 on an expired permit and had to complaint to a point that it turned out to be $2000. If you can stay away from the City of Miami Beach do so. They want to reinvent the wheel on building permit processing not having a clue. They should just follow in the footsteps of unincorporated Dade Building department which has worked exceptionally well for the size of area they cover. Miami Beach unlawfully charged me $1600 to reopen another expired permit that was already finalized and the computer system didn’t update correctly, I paid for their mistake. I’m not a Happy Camper when it comes to dealing with Miami Beach, I try to stay away from them as much as possible.

CSS system is not it. None of the inspectors numbers are shared, if you receive an inspector for building they do not update their routes on the system nor want to provide time window as they say they “can’t” however every other municipality somehow can. It’s not contractor friendly nor customer friendly.

Staff is always helpful whether its via phone or at the actual building department. Very friendly environment, always greeted with smiles. The downfall however are the unannounced events that they sometimes have the day of. For example, one may get there in the morning and find a sign that states they will be closing early- however those who are unaware may show up to a closed facility. Also, there is no heads up days prior to these events.. Maybe they can post on their website or for the regulars, have the signs up maybe 2 weeks in advance. Parking can get a bit difficult unless you get there early. DO NOT go during LUNCH hours because the whole building goes on lunch recess together and you will be left in a dark room-literally. I would rather submit permits online as they've done in the past but this was discontinued. Making the drive down to Miami Beach isn't always ideal. I'm not sure how every stays sane after hearing the way they call out numbers. The automated voice system can get pretty overwhelming. Overall the Building Department gets the work done!

I have been waiting over 2 hours just to pick up plans. Valet parking brings my car in 20 minutes!

If I could give negative stars, I would. It is absolutely incredible the level of incompetence and the lack of coherence there is in this department. As a customer, all of my experiences dealing with this city department have been less than satisfactory. There is no organization at all. Clerks tell you one thing over the phone and other representatives tell you a completely different thing in person. I wish they'd at least get themselves in the same page and train their staff to give the appropriate information. Cannot believe my tax payer dollars pay these salaries. Please PROVIDE the customer service we deserve and are paying you for.

There are some pretty terrific people working here, but unfortunately the new system they have rather than improve the work flow slows it down. Administration Dept. is always helpful but there is only so much they can do, Specially with the fact that the building department has no say so over Public Works and Zoning causes issues that can become a real pain. Love to come and see the friendly familiar faces, hate to waste time due to a failing system that is user UNFRIENDLY and SLOW to say the least. Thanks to people like Mr. Mariano Fernandez, Tony Lopez, James Murphy, Steven Williams, Millie Robayna, Gabriel from Public works and many of the clerks and reviewers you will see the light at the end of the tunnel. But once again the system is a total FIASCO to conduct business in a thriving City that has so many projects going on. The old system was much easier to navigate and much quicker too !!!

Worse building department in South Florida, some people are very rude and they don't want to help you and the online system is the worst. Hate going there or calling this department.

Terrible system and service. The system does not allow you to upload corrections until every single discipline is review, which takes weeks then weeks to review again and if there is a new observation another month, months go by by... reviewers are unreachable. Unfriendly system.

The new system is terrible, the reviewers don't know how to use the new changes, the employees are very rude and don't know nothing, the new system makes lose money and waste time to the residents who applies for a permit, waiting to get approve for a simple project. thousands of dollars to create an empty building, things have to change.

The worst of the worst. Been waiting for a permit to be approved over a year. The elevator dept are the one holding my permit for Electric and fire. I dont understand if this part belongs to a different department why I have to go tru them. Jaqueline and Joe from the elevator dept very rude, unprofessional and power abusers.

I have been calling daily AND sending daily emails, per their outgoing message. I've been doing this daily for more than two weeks, and still haven't received a reply.

They never answer the phone!! Very difficult to get information over the phone. Website very complex. Difficult to find information.

The right peoples on the right place. thank you so much guys

Does anyone supervise these inspectors they don’t follow the inspection order if you are number 1 on inspection they jump all over the place you call them and they get an attitude this is the problem with county/government/state and city employees they just do what ever they want with no consequences this is a lack of supervision and management they have you sit and wait until they decide to do there job horrible

Great and fast costumer service 👏👏👏call James barell. On a Tuesday for a violation in my building and Wednesday problem was fix thank you guys

I really had an excellent experience at City of Miami Beach Building.dept. I had a big problem with my contractor. But Ms. Vilma with her friendly personality & Christina and Ms. Farley made my day with their effort helping me. I really appreciate your hard work & time ...

Y’all need Jesus on god. Stop profiting off of us and licking Cheeto dust from your fingers and review your damn permits on hold. It’s a genuine issue.

Nancy Gonzalez is a problem solver!!! Thank you Nancy!!! As a general contractor when cities have a staff like you it makes us enjoy working in those cities!

Worst city to ever do anything with no responses and if you get through goes from one person to the next and nothing gets done